The Real Man Test
by DreamWvr73
Summary: Mac has special tasks to perform for Pete and Gillian.


MacGyver was in his office munching on an apple. He was reading his wife's itinerary for the impending trip to Egypt, the trip was a little less than 5 weeks away. His phone buzzed loudly and he cleared his throat and pressed the intercom button.

"MacGyver here, I'm busy, leave me a message, beep."

Gillian's laughter came through the intercom speaker. "Very funny Mac, first off this is an intercom not an answering machine."

He took another bite of his apple. "Okay ya got me, what's up?"

"I just wanted to know if you were done with the itinerary."

"For the most part."

"And what do you think?"

"Looks good, should be very interesting."

"Yeah that's what I think too."

"Anything else on your mind?"

"Yeah as a matter of fact, something just got delivered to my office but it's for the both of us."

Mac creased his brow. "From who?"

"Don't know yet."

"Well bring it in on over, we'll see who sent it."

"Okay."

MacGyver turned off his intercom and turned towards the door, his wife came in carrying a large box. He threw his apple core in his trash can and got up. "No return address or anything?"

Gillian shook her head as she set the box down on her husband's desk. "Nope, nothing. Tony from the mailroom said that it got delivered a few days after we were sent on that special assignment for Pete."

"You mean after I died?"

Gillian nodded. "Right but I didn't tell him that, don't forget only you me and Pete know that."

It was a pretty good sized box wrapped in plain brown paper, the address was written in thick marker, it was addressed to both of them. 

Gillian had on a silky blue sleeveless shirt and black dress pants, she had on her special belt with the small knives tucked into the back of it, she took one out. 

"Well there is only one way to find out who sent this." She sliced through the tape and started peeling it off. 

Mac pulled apart the two ends of it and saw a bunch of Styrofoam peanuts, there was an envelope on top of them. He picked it up and opened it; he took out a paper and unfolded it.

_"Dear MacGyver and Gillian,_

_Congratulations on your promotion, enclosed is a special gift from the LAFD, Chief Forrester and Station 51 they wanted to thank you both for your help with bringing the strike to an end. By the time you read this, we will be in __Montana__ for a little R &R. We will celebrate your promotion when we get home but in the meantime you'll also find a little something from the three of us. See you as soon as we get back._

_Love,_

_Min, Johnny and Evan."___

Gillian nodded. "That was nice of them."

Mac set the paper down on his desk. "Yeah I'm glad they're out of town, they've probably been back for awhile now."

Gillian started digging through the box, she found a tan velvet box, she opened it and smiled. "Oh my God!" It was a silver badge, a fireman's badge; she turned it and showed it to her husband. "Look a fireman's badge that says 51 on it."

MacGyver took it from her and looked at it, there was a scroll in the box and Gillian took off the red ribbon and unrolled it, it was a certificate. "This certifies that MacGyver is hereby made an official member of Station 51, and will be entitled to all rights and privileges as a fully fledged fireman." Gillian laughed. "It's signed by the Mayor and Chief Forrester." She handed it to him.

"A fireman?" He looked at the scroll and started to laugh. "Oh man, I'm a fireman."

Gillian looked in the box, there was a long box in the bottom and she picked it up, there was a card taped to it and she took it off and opened it. "To MacGyver with thanks, the men of Station 51." 

Mac put the scroll down. "Now what do you suppose this is?"

She opened the box and peeled back the tissue paper. There was a blue uniform shirt, it had a white name tag on the left breast pocket that said MacGyver. "It's the uniform they wear, and it even has your name on it."

He picked it up from the box and put it against his chest. "Yeah and in my size."

There was a pair of dark blue pants underneath it. "And here are the pants."

Mac folded it back up and put it in the box. "Those guys are something else."

"They're a great bunch of guys though." Gillian picked up a t-shirt and unfolded it. "I think this is for me."

It was light grey and said **MY HUSBAND IS A FIREMAN, written across the middle of it.**

"Yeah I'd say that belongs to you." 

"It's cute though." She set it aside and looked in the box, there were a couple more folded up t-shirts in the bottom. "Looks like two more in here."

Gillian picked up one, it was white, she unfolded it and started laughing really hard. MacGyver looked at her. "What?"

She was still laughing as she turned it around and showed it to him. "We're going to share this one." 

The t-shirt had written across it in big thick black letters, **OPERATIVES DO IT IN DISGUISE. **

MacGyver read that and he too started laughing really hard. He had a blue button down shirt on, he pulled it out his waistband and he started unbuttoning it.

"What are you doing?"

"I want to wear it." He took his shirt off and his wife handed the t-shirt too him, he put it over his head and pulled it down his chest. He turned and looked at his wife. "What do you think?"

Gillian covered her mouth with her hand and started laughing. "I think it's hysterical."

"Me too, what about the other one?"

Gillian took a light blue shirt and unfolded it, it read **STEP ASIDE, BOSSMAN COMING THROUGH.  "This one is definitely for you." She turned it around and showed it to him.**

Mac looked at it and smiled. "That's nice, but I think I'll wear this one for now."

Gillian gathered everything up and put it back in the box. "That was really nice of them to do all that for us, we should drop them a note."

"Yeah we'll send 51 and everyone a thank you note." He picked up his badge and looked at it. "I'm a fireman huh."

"According to that paper you are."

MacGyver handed her the badge. "I always thought that was a neat job, but not for me."

Gillian tucked the badge into the box and closed the flaps. "I thought every little boy dreamed of being a fireman one day, didn't you?"

"No, not really, that wasn't what I wanted to be." Mac looked away from his wife.

Gillian knew what wanted to be when he grew up, she walked up to him and touched his face.

"I know you wanted to be a hockey star Mac." Gillian lifted his chin. "But if it's any consolation, you are to me." She moved her hand down his cheek and smiled. "I know that isn't much."

Mac grinned at his wife; he put both hands on her face and kissed her. "It's a big consolation to me." He touched his forehead to hers. "And it's more than enough."

The phone on top of Mac's desk buzzed, it was right next to the box. Mac let go of his wife and reached out, he pressed the intercom button. "Yeah?"

"Mac, can you and Gill come to my office?"

"Sure, what's up?"

The Director of Operations sighed. "I just got off the phone with NATO, they need a favor."

MacGyver sighed. "Where are we going Pete?"

"Pakistan, you two come in here and I'll give you all the details."

"All right, we'll be right there." He turned off the intercom and looked at his wife. "Looks like we're back in the game Gill."

The young woman nodded. "So I heard, that's okay, believe it or not I missed it."

Mac gave his wife a nod. "Me too." He stretched out his hand to her. "Come on, let's go hear about Pakistan."

Gillian took his hand; they left his office and headed down the hall to Pete's.

MacGyver and Gillian were standing in the custom lines in Pakistan; they had been there for a three days and were finally going home. Pete had sent the couple there to retrieve a very small piece of computer equipment that had been stolen. It was a one of a kind microchip that had been taken from an MIT Engineer; he was developing it for NATO. 

MacGyver was dressed in black pants, a light blue shirt and a dark blazer over it; he had a red backpack on his arm. Gillian was standing next to him, she had on pair of grey pants and a white ribbed shirt, she had a small black suitcase at her feet.

Mac was a little nervous; he just wanted to get out of there. He had given his wife the chip; she said she knew of a fool proof way to get the chip out of the country. Mac trusted his wife but he was still feeling a little on the antsy side, he casually leaned towards her. "Are you sure they won't find it?"

Gillian gave her husband a slight nod of her head. "Trust me Sweetie, we'll be just fine."

Their turn was coming up fast and MacGyver looked around. There were many soldiers in tan uniforms with large machine guns on their shoulders; there was little chance for someone to get away. A short man with a thin mustache waved at the couple.

"Next!"

Mac stepped up and took his backpack off of his shoulder and handed it to the man with the tan uniform. The man snatched it and set it down on the table. He unzipped it and dumped the contents out, he carefully searched through everything. "You're clean." He pushed everything aside.

MacGyver made a face at him as he started putting his stuff back into the backpack. "Thanks for putting everything back."

The uniformed man looked at Gillian. "Give me your bag!"

Gillian stepped up and smiled at him. "Yes sir." She picked up the suitcase and put it up on the table. 

The man unlatched it, and the two ends parted. He opened one half of the suitcase and started going through their clothes, he found nothing. He moved the divider aside and started going through the other half, he found something underneath the clothes.  It was a blue and pink plastic bag, it was sealed shut and he lifted his hands away from it as though it was poison or on fire. He looked at Gillian and wrinkled his nose. 

"You're clean, close it and get out of here."

Gillian nodded her head. "Yes sir." She arranged the clothes back so that they would lie flat and closed the suitcase; she gave her husband a smile and picked it up. "Come on Honey, we have to get to the plane."

She reached out and Mac took her hand, they walked around the custom table and headed out the backdoor to the plane.

"How did you do that?" Mac leaned close to her and whispered in her ear.

Gillian smiled as she let go of his hand and took her husband's arm. "Later, wait until we get home."

They got home at the wee hours of the morning, they were both pretty tired as they bolted the front door and headed for their bedroom. 

MacGyver took the suitcase from his wife. "Okay I have been waiting for 14 hours; I want to know how you got that chip through customs."

Gillian laughed as she followed him down the hall and into their bedroom.

"All right, I'll show you, put the suitcase down on bed and open it."

Mac did as she asked and opened it. He lifted the divider between the two halves, he stepped back and let his wife take over. Gillian took all the clothes out of one half and moved the divider, she started taking everything out of that half as well.

"So where is the chip?"

Gillian got to the bottom; she picked up the blue and pink bag and showed it to her husband. "The chip is right in here."

Mac's eyes got big. "Do you mean to tell me you hid a chip worth millions of dollars in a bag of feminine..."

"Yeah, did you see his face? He wouldn't get near the bag; he acted like it was a snake or something."

"I wouldn't have looked in it either. Where is the chip?"

Gillian tore the bag open and reached inside of it. The chip was taped to the inside; she pulled off the tape and tossed it at her husband. "Tada, one very valuable microchip."

MacGyver caught the chip and pulled the tape off of it. "At least we got it out of the country; this should make the MIT Engineer and NATO pretty happy."

"Yeah, you better call Pete and let him know we got it."

"Right." Mac slipped the chip into his breast pocket and walked over to the nightstand, he picked up the phone and started dialing. "It's really late." He glanced at the clock, it read 2 15.

Gillian sat down on the bed. "I know and you're going to wake him up but he'll be relieved, you know how tense he was."

Mac finished dialing and put the phone on his ear. "Pete? Mac, we just got home." He grinned. "Yeah everything went fine, we got it."

Gillian had a headache. She was lying on her bed, she suddenly remembered something and she groaned and covered her eyes, she had to go to the store but she didn't really feel like going. She got an idea, maybe she could sweet talk her husband into going for her, it was a long shot but she had to try. 

MacGyver was lying on the couch, he had fallen asleep while reading a book; it was on his chest. 

Gillian walked into the living room and saw her husband was asleep, she knelt down and touched his hair.

"Mac?"

"Hmmm?" He opened his eyes and looked at his wife. "Something wrong?"

Gillian shook her head. "Well no not really, I just need you to do something for me."

"Okay, what?"

Gillian sighed; she knew he wasn't going to like this. "I need you to go to the store for me."

Mac nodded. "That's not a big deal, what do you want from the store?"

Gillian smiled widely as she reached down and touched his face gently. "Umm…well, do you remember that blue and pink bag the custom agent wouldn't get near?"

"Yeah, what about it?" 

It was the way that she was looking at him, it was very clear in her face what she needed from the store; he looked at her sideways. "You don't mean?"

She nodded and he slapped his hands over his eyes, it was every husband's biggest nightmare come true.  "Oh shi-"

Gillian put her fingers to his lips. "Look I know you aren't happy about this and I'm sorry."

Mac moved her fingers from his lips. "Why can't you go?"

She sat back on her haunches. "My head is killing me, I took some aspirin but it hasn't kicked in yet."

Gillian got back on her knees and leaned over her husband. "Please? I know I'll owe you big time for this."

Her husband groaned and covered his face with his hands. "Gill, you can't be serious."

"I'm afraid so."

MacGyver uncovered his face and looked at his wife; she was looking at him with puppy dog eyes. "All right, I'll go, but you are going to owe me _huge for this."_

Gillian smiled and bent down, she kissed her husband a couple of times. "Anything you want, name it and you got it."

"Believe me, I'll think of something." He sat up and swung his legs around his wife; he stood up and went to get his keys.

Mac was still extremely unhappy about his chore as he got into his Corvette, backed it out of the garage and drove down the road. There was a drug store only a couple of miles away; it was the closest one to the house so he decided to go with that one. The little store was called Drugs and Stuff, Mac parked the Corvette in the front of it, he took off his sunglasses and tucked them into his pocket. 

"Oh great." He looked at the store; it was white and looked to be about the size of a phone booth. "I just hope they have the stuff I need."

He pulled back the glass door and stepped inside, an older woman with red hair that was going grey and a white doctor's coat on looked at him. She was standing behind a glass counter. "Hi, need any help?"

MacGyver smiled at her. "No ma'am I think I can handle it."

She nodded. "Okay, but if you need any help let me know."

"Okay." Mac sighed as he walked around the tiny store, thankfully he was the only person that seemed to be there and that made his job a whole lot easier. He was looking around the aisles, trying to find the right one; he finally spotted it and sighed. "I can't believe I'm doing this."

His tennis shoes squeezed on the tile as he walked down the aisle, there were only about ten thousand varieties that started at one end of the aisle and went all the way to the other end. 

Mac closed his eyes and shook his head briefly. "Oh man." 

MacGyver knew what the bag looked like, after all, he and Gillian had been together for over two years, he had seen it many times, of course he never thought he would be trying to find it now. He finally spotted it and snatched it off the shelf; he wanted to get the heck out of there before anyone else came into the store. 

Mac almost made it to the counter when the door opened and a couple of women came in, he recognized them instantly and he ducked back into the aisle. He leaned back against the shelf and wiped his hand down his face. 

"Oh perfect, LA has ten thousand drug stores and who should walk into the one I'm in? Sandra and Jessica."

He peeked around the corner and watched them; they were at the counter checking out perfume. He knew that if he was spotted, especially with what was in his hands, he would never be able to face the Phoenix Foundation ever again. Those two and the rest of the Grapevine would have the entire building talking about his little shopping trip. He had to find a way to make them leave and in a hurry.

Mac set the little blue and pink bag down on the floor; he walked down the aisle and around to the back of the store. The back wall was the section that had makeup of every variety, cold remedies and vitamins. In between all of the displays was the red fire alarm, he saw it and smiled.

"Bingo."

He checked to make sure he was really alone. He didn't see a soul and pulled down on the alarm. Because of the age of the building, it was a siren that suddenly went off, not an alarm.  It was loud; he covered his ears with his hands and ran back to the aisle he was in.

The older woman with the white coat was showing the two women perfume bottles, she lifted her head when the alarm went off and her eyes got big.

"Oh dear that's the fire alarm!" She looked at the two women. "Ladies I suggest you leave."

Sandra and Jessica were thoroughly frightened by it and nodded. "Yes, thank you."

Mac was peeking his head around the corner, he saw them rush out the door, he waited until he spotted Sandra's little red SUV go buy. 

The older woman wasn't sure what to do, she was ducked behind the counter trying to find out what the procedure was; her and her husband had owned that store for 30 years and the fire alarm had never gone off before. 

MacGyver grinned and casually picked up his blue and pink bag and walked up to the counter, he set it down and leaned over. "Hi."

The older woman gasped and looked up at him, she stood up. "What are you doing here? The fire alarm is going off, you should go!"

"Yes ma'am I plan to but I have to pay for this first."

She looked down at what was sitting on the counter. She shook her head, her mind was a ramble of different things and she was trying to think of a price. "Uhh…3.50."

Mac touched the back of his blue shorts and took out his wallet. He opened it and took out a 10 dollar bill and handed it to her. "Here you go, keep the change."

"Thank you." She took a plastic bag out from behind the counter and put what he bought into it.

MacGyver saw how frightened she looked. "Don't worry these older building sometimes have shorts in the wiring, that's probably what set off the alarm."

The loud siren suddenly stopped, she sighed audibly and put her hand to her chest. "Oh thank goodness." She looked at Mac. "You were right, thanks, have a nice day."

"Thank you, I'll try." He gave her a smile, picked up his plastic bag and left.

Gillian had fallen asleep on their bed, her headache was finally gone and that had allowed her to drift off to sleep. The front door opened and her husband walked in and closed the door.

"Gill?"

Mac walked down the hall and opened their bedroom door. "Gill, I-"

He saw her and smiled, he hung the bag on the door knob. He sat down on the edge of the bed and took off his tennis shoes and socks; he climbed into it and crawled behind her. He put his hand on her shoulder and rubbed it, kissing her head. She turned over towards her husband, he kissed her head again. "Hey, I'm back."

Gillian woke up, her eyes were barely open. "Huh?"

Mac smoothed her hair away from her face. "How's your head?"

She woke up a little more. "My headache's gone, did you get them?"

"The bag is hanging on the door."

She nodded and touched his face. "Thank you, I appreciate it."

Mac sighed and shook his head. "Anytime, it was an adventure to say the least."

"I know you were probably totally embarrassed but I promise anything you want you got it." Gillian leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. She broke the kiss and touched her forehead to his, she started laughing.

"What?"

She smiled at her husband. "You know, you just passed the real man test."

MacGyver creased his brow. "The real man test?"

Gillian nodded. "Yeah, that is the test of a real man, if a husband will go the store despite his protests and bring home something his wife needs despite how embarrassing it might be for him." She smiled at him. "And Baby you passed it with flying colors." She gave him a wallop of a kiss.

Mac smiled at her. "Well, it _could have been worse."_

"How?"

He shrugged. "You could have sent me to the store for a box of condoms."

Gillian laughed. "Now why would I do that? That would definitely be _your department, not mine."_

"That's true; I guess I would be the one to send _you."_

She shook her head. "We don't even use them, but you would just to get even wouldn't you?"

Mac thought about it for a minute but then started laughing. "No I wouldn't do that." He gave her a kiss. "I was just teasing you Gill."

Gillian looked at her husband sideways. "Uh huh."

He looked wounded. "You don't believe me?"

She smiled at him. "Of course I believe you."

"Good." He leaned back on the bed and closed his eyes. "If I really wanted to embarrass you I'd send you to go buy a dirty magazine."

Gillian propped herself up on one elbow. "Excuse me?"

Mac looked over at her and smiled, she had both of her eyebrows up. "I don't think I heard you right, care to repeat that?"

He cleared his throat. "Umm, no I think I'll pass."

Gillian reached behind her and grabbed her pillow. "Dirty magazine?" She started whapping him with the pillow. 

Mac started laughing and covered his head. "Husband beaten to death with pillow, story at 11."

Gillian stopped and he uncovered his head and smiled at her. "I _knew that would get you."_

She swung the pillow and it hit him in the face. He flopped back down on the bed and closed his eyes, he was pretending to be dead.  

Gillian tossed it aside and brushed off her hands. "Well now that he's dead I think I'll take Jack Dalton up on his offer and go run off with him."

MacGyver lifted his head. "Jack Dalton? You would run off with Jack Dalton?"

Gillian gasped dramatically. "Oh my God it's a miracle! He's alive!"

She leaned down and gave him a kiss, running her hand down his white t-shirt. "I guess Jack will have to be disappointed." She put her head on his chest and sighed.

"Yeah." Mac hugged her head. "Anything I want huh?"

"That's what I said."

"I'll have to really give that some thought, it has so many possibilities, give me a few days to think about it, okay?"

Gillian nodded. "Take all the time you need, I'm sure you'll come up with something."

Mac put his hand on her back and started rubbing it. "I'm assuming that anything also covers..."

"No, I mean besides that."

"Oh! Well this definitely has possibilities then. How about we go rock climbing in Yosemite?"

Gillian lifted her head. "You want to drive for 5 and a half hours just to go climbing?"

"Well no we could make it an overnight trip, get up early and get there, do our climbing and then spend the night and drive home the next day."

"Don't we need a trailer to camp there?"

"No, they have camping areas for people in tents." Mac rolled his wife off him and leaned over her. "Come on Gill, you, me, all that nature." He gave her a couple of kisses. "Yosemite is very beautiful this time of year." He gave her a couple more. "It'll be a whole lot of fun to sleep in a tent, under the stars, in the woods."

Gillian opened her eyes and looked at her husband. "Well I _did say anything you wanted." She touched his face. "Okay, if that's what you want we'll do it."_

"Great!" He kissed her hard and got up from the bed. "Let me go find the rock climbing equipment!" He was very happy as he left the room and headed for the garage.

Gillian woke up at 4 am; she was alone in the bed. This wasn't a surprise to her, three days had passed and weekend had finally come, it was time to fulfill her promise to her husband. She rolled out of bed and walked over to her dresser; she opened the drawers and started pulling out clothes. The first thing she got out was a light grey sports bra, followed by a white muscle shirt. She opened the middle drawer and took out a pair of jean shorts and a pair of blue spandex pants. She closed the drawers and went to her closet; she opened the door and got out two boxes she had hidden in there.

Gillian was dressed in her rock climbing attire, everything but her shoes; she had two boxes behind her back as she walked down the hall and into the kitchen. She saw the back of her husband, he had a light grey muscle shirt, a pair of light grey climbing pants. They reminded Gillian of grey sweat pants but were more form fitting; he was standing in front of the table going over all of their equipment.

"Good Morning."

He turned around and looked at her. "Morning." He looked her up and down, he nodded. "Nice, perfect clothes for climbing, especially your leg protection." He was looking at the blue spandex pants under her light blue short jean shorts.

Gillian smiled. "Thanks." She noticed the shoes he had on, they were a rather beaten up pair of hiking boots. "Uh, Mac you look great but those boots will _never do."_

He bent down and saw his boots. "What's wrong with them?"

"Well they look like they aren't even going to make it to Yosemite much less to climb with." Gillian walked over to him. "I can't have my husband sliding down the mountain because his boots were too old and worn." She took the two boxes from behind her back. "Tada!"

Mac looked at the two boxes. "What's this?"

Gillian set the two boxes down on the nearby counter and picked one up. "These are brand new climbing boots, one pair for each of us." She checked the size. "Size 10 and a half, these are yours." She smiled as she handed him the box. 

He took it and shook his head. "Gill you didn't have to."

"Take a look."

Mac opened the box, the boots were light grey with black rubber soles that started at the tip of the toes and went all the way around the bottom of the shoes. "Oh wow these are Duraclimbs, these are very expensive boots."

Gillian checked to make sure hers were size 8 and a half, they were. She pulled out a chair and sat down and started putting them on, hers were the same color as his. "Tell me about it."

MacGyver pulled out a chair and started putting his on. "Are you going to tell me how much they cost?"

"If you really want to know." She laced up both of hers and got up from the chair. "Wow they are nice and comfortable."

"Yeah I want to know."

Gillian walked around a little getting used to the boots. "They were 325 a pair."

Mac blinked at her. "325? You paid 325 for these boots?" He looked down at them.

She walked up to him and touched his face. "Yes, 325 dollars for each pair. I wanted us to have good boots that would last us a while, so put them on so we can go climb." She gave him a small kiss. "Okay?"

MacGyver nodded his head. "Okay." He tied them and stood up, his wife was right they were very comfortable. 

"What do you think?"

Mac stomped his feet a little. "They're nice, one thing about Duraclimbs, you definitely get what you pay for. We won't have to worry about losing our grip that's for sure. I could probably hang from the ceiling like a bat with these things."

Gillian laughed, she could see her husband hanging upside down, it was a funny image. "Well that's good."

He walked up to her and put his hands on her shoulders; he moved her towards him and kissed her. "Thanks."

She grinned. "It was no big deal, I needed a pair and since I was already buying one pair I figured why not too?" She looked at all the stuff spread all over their dining room table. "Okay, do you want to tell me what all this stuff is?"

Mac let go of her shoulders and turned towards the table. "Sure, first off we have rope." He showed her two bundles of blue and yellow rope. "It's 165 feet long, it's pretty sturdy stuff." He picked up two hammers. "Rock climbing hammers, one for each of us." He picked up a small a medium sized black chunky bag; he reached into it and took out something that looked like an overgrown chain link. "About 4 dozen carabiners."

Gillian creased her brow as she took it from her husband. "Isn't that a lot?"

"Better to have too many than too few, trust me, they are the one thing you don't want to run out of." He set that bag down and picked up another medium sized bag, this one was red. "Of course you need pitons." He took one out, look like a thin railroad spike.

Gillian took it from him and looked at it. "Anything else?"

MacGyver nodded. "Yeah, harnesses." There were two on the table, one bright purple, one black, he picked up the purple one and crouched down. "Okay Gill, let me adjust this thing to fit you, put your feet in the holes."

Gillian looked down and saw the harness on the floor; she stepped into it and her husband pulled it all the way up to her waist. It was really loose and she shook her head. "You're really going to have to adjust that." The harness was a belt around her waist with loops on it, in the middle was a loop that was attached to two more big loops that went around each thigh.

"I know I know, the waist." He was still crouched down; he started pulling on the black clip on the side, trying to make it tighter. Her shirt kept getting in the way. "Lift your shirt Gill."

Gillian took a hold of the end of it and lifted it, exposing her belly button. "Better?"

"Yeah." He was pulling on the clip, making her move.

"Are you trying to pull me off of my feet?"

"No, just get this clip to cooperate." He finally pulled it tight enough. "How does that feel?"

"Good, just right, not too lose or too tight."

"That's how it's supposed to feel." He pulled her shirt down for her, he touched her legs. "What about your legs?"

"They're fine."

MacGyver nodded and stood back up "Good, so that takes care of that."

Gillian carefully took the harness off and slid it down her legs; she bent down and picked it up. "Okay is that everything?"

"One more thing." His black fanny pack was on the table; he unzipped it and took out two pairs of black fingerless gloves. "So the rope doesn't eat up your hands."

Gillian nodded. "Well if that's it then, let's pack up all this and go."

Mac picked up a large black gym bag from under the table and started loading everything into it. "What about our overnight stuff?"

"I got all that taken care of. I packed our big blue backpack with the stuff we'll need for the one night. What about the camping equipment?"

"All loaded into the back of Nomad."

"What kind of tent did you get for this?"

Mac finished loading everything into the backpack, he zipped it up. "It's not as big as the one we had in Santa Fe, but it's big enough for two and that's all the space we need."

Gillian nodded. "Okay, I got my wallet and keys; you got your wallet and keys?"

He touched his pockets. "Yeah."

She smiled. "Well then let's go, Yosemite awaits."

Gillian was hanging from her harness. She was looking up at her husband; he was about 10 feet above her, hammering in a piton. He had a white baseball cap turned backwards on his head, he looked down at her. 

"Come on Gill, there's a ledge a little higher up; we can take a break there."

"All right I'm coming."

They were on a structure called Middle Cathedral Rock; it was right beside El Capitan. Gillian was glad her husband had decided against scaling the famous Yosemite mountain. She took a deep breath and planted her feet against the side of it and started sticking her hands on all the little nooks and crevices as she made her way up. She could feel her hammer and her small bags of carabiners and pitons bumping against her legs. She didn't even want to look below her, they were a good distance off the ground. She was sure the view was spectacular but it was also a reminder of how high up she really was. 

Mac made it to the ledge, he took off his baseball cap and wiped his brow; he stood over the edge and casually peeked over it. 

Gillian was coming up, he and his wife were attached together by a long section of rope. He had on his black harness and pulled a little on the rope, it was pretty taut. 

Gillian was grateful for her gloves. The rocks were very sharp; if it wasn't for them her hands would have already been scraped up. She found a good crack and stuck her fingers in, she got a good grip and pulled herself up; she saw the ledge was just above her. She looked down; her feet were in two nooks. She moved them higher up and made sure they were secure before she found two more places to stick her hands in.

Mac was sitting away from the edge, it was about three feet in front of him, there was plenty of room on that ledge, even to camp out on. He had unhooked himself from the rope; he took the canteen off of his belt and had a sip of water. He was watching for his wife, he saw a pair of black gloved hands reach up and grab the edge; his wife's head suddenly popped up.

"Hi." She pulled herself up and bent over the edge; she swung her legs around and rolled onto the ledge. 

MacGyver smiled at her, he was pretty proud of her. She was a novice when it came to climbing but she was doing really good. "Hi, having fun?"

Gillian was laying down on the rock, she sighed. "Actually yeah, I've never done anything like this before that's for sure." She got up and unhooked herself; she sat beside her husband and rubbed her arms a little. "My arms are getting a good workout; I'm going to have some great muscles by the time we get to the top."

He passed his canteen to his wife. "Have some water."

"Thanks." She sipped the water and put a little in her hand and patted her face with it. They both were looking out, the view was amazing; they could see the park stretch out in front of them. "Wow, beautiful."

"I know, it is, I love it here."

Gillian gave her husband back his canteen. "So let me ask you something Mr. Mountain Goat."

Mac turned towards his wife and looked at her. "Okay what?"

"How come standing on a step ladder to change the light bulb in the kitchen can freak you out yet climbing up a thousand foot mountain hanging from a skinny rope doesn't bother you?"

"Who said it doesn't bother me? I just keep my eyes up, not down."

"Well if heights bother both of us so much why are we doing this?"

MacGyver smiled. "It's a challenge, being afraid of heights only adds to it. I mean look at this place Gill, we are in the presence of Mother Nature, how can we_ not want to do this?"_

Gillian nodded, her husband made a good point, and he was right. Why should a little thing like fear stop them from enjoying this beautiful place they were in? She turned towards him. "You know you're right, it's too nice here to stay on the ground." She gave her husband a kiss; he grabbed her around the waist and dipped her. 

"You know I love it when you talk like that." Mac leaned down and started kissing her hard.

Gillian was laughing as she pushed his shoulders back, breaking the kiss. "Talk like what?"

"When you say I'm right." 

She shook her head at her husband. "You are silly Mac you know that?"

He shrugged. "I always thought I was mildly nuts."

"That too." Gillian was leaning across his lap; she put her arms around his neck and kissed him a couple of times. "But I like that, being insane makes it that much more interesting to be married to you."

Mac nodded. "And here I thought it was my charm and wonderful personality that made it interesting to be married to me."

Gillian grinned. "Actually Sweetie Pie, if you want to know the truth." She looked him up and down. "I married you for your body."

MacGyver knew better than to believe her. Gillian was smiling at him, that smile told him that she was only kidding, he decided to play a trick of his own on her. "I see, okay." He looked away from her, his face was a little sad. 

She saw him do that and her eyebrows went up. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He looked genuinely sad.

Gillian shook her head and touched his chin, turning his face back towards her. "Then why are you making that face?" 

"No reason."

She realized that what she said was probably the cause of it; she put her hands on his face. "Mac, you do know I was kidding right?"

MacGyver's face remained passive. "No that's okay Gill, you don't have to pretend you didn't mean it."

Gillian's eyes grew wide. "I didn't mean it! I was just teasing you! Of course I didn't marry you for your body!" She kissed him. "I married you because I am in love with you."

Mac suddenly burst out laughing, Gillian gasped. "You! You! Oh you are so _dead!"_

She started tickling him, her fingers digging into his sides. "I thought I had hurt your feelings!"

MacGyver was laughing hard; he fell over on his side. "You should have seen your face! You thought I was really upset didn't you?"

Gillian climbed on top of him, she grabbed his hands and put them above his head and held them down. "You are going to get it now White Man." 

He finally stopped laughing and looked up at her. "Gill, do you _really think you have the advantage just because you have my hands pinned down?"_

"Well, yeah."

Mac shook his head at her. "Wrong." He was a lot stronger; he simply sat up, grabbed her around the waist and flipped them over. "See." He gave his wife a small kiss.

Gillian smiled at him. "Well, now that we both have teased each other and had a good laugh. What do you say we get back to climbing this mountain?"

MacGyver let her up and sat back on his haunches. "Okay, break time is over." 

They were almost to the top; they were scaling up the side of the mountain. Mac was hammering another piton into the rock, he took another carabiner out of his bag and attached it to his line and stretched it up and attached it to the piton. He was about 15 feet above his wife, he let go of his hammer, it was attached to his harness and hung down the side of his leg. 

MacGyver saw a couple of good places above him that he could put his hands into, they were a little above him to the left. He started towards them, using his legs and his feet to keep him against the rock as he stretched up to one of the crevices and stuck his hand in. He made sure he had a good grip; he took a deep breath and pulled himself up to it. 

The other one was right there next to it, he put his right hand into it. His feet found two places to go into; he looked down and saw the two holes his feet were in. He was grateful for those boots his wife gave him, they really had good grip to them. He took his right hand out of the crevice and reached down; he took a piton out of his red bag and put it in the crack. His hammer was bumping against his leg; he picked it up and started hammering it into the rock. 

Mac got a carabiner out of his black bag and attached it to his rope and attached himself to the piton, he breathed a sigh of relief. "Hey Gill?"

Gillian was getting closer to him, following his trail of pitons. "Yeah?"

"How ya doing?" MacGyver was looking above him trying to figure out how close they were to the top; it looked like about another ten feet. 

"Okay, slow going."

"We're almost to the top." He sighed. "Boy this mountain is tough, toughest one I've ever climbed."

"Just keep going, I'll be right behind you."

"Okay." Mac reached up and grabbed a nook; he pushed up with his legs and started moving back up towards the top.

Gillian was going along, she was finally getting into a semi decent rhythm, she was no longer employing her previous method of grab a place and pray. She could see her husband's grey legs above her; she was getting closer to him. 

Mac was on a surprisingly smooth place, it was a like a chunk that was carved out of the side of the mountain. He was able to crawl inside of it, the surface was like marble. He hammered a piton into it and attached his line to it. He saw what looked like a ledge above him, he came out of his cubby hole and reached up. He could feel that it was a ledge, it had to be top.

MacGyver reached up with both hands and grabbed it; he dragged himself along the rock and pulled himself up on it. It was the top and he sighed and put his hands on his hips, taking a few deep breaths, it had not been an easy climb.

Gillian made it to the ledge; she quietly sneaked up behind him and grabbed him around the waist. "Gotcha!"

He started and turned around; he didn't expect her to make it up there so fast. "Hi." He smiled at her and put his arm across her waist. "Check it out." 

MacGyver turned her and they both looked out at how far they could see from that height. The waterfall could be seen along with a great view of El Capitan. They could see the whole lush tree covered valley that seemed to go on forever, all the way to the horizon.

A slight breeze kicked up, the smell of pine trees and sweet flowers was mixed in with the air. They both took a deep breath and let the fragrant air fill their lungs. 

Gillian shook her head, a small smile on her face. "Fantastic Mac, the whole world is right there and we are sitting on top of it amongst the clouds." She leaned her head against him. "This was definitely worth it."

MacGyver smiled. "Yeah, it was." He sighed and kissed his wife on the head, he was very glad to share such a magical moment with her.

It had taken most of the day for the two climbers to get to the top of Middle Cathedral Rock; by the time they got back down the mountain and made it back to their camp site, it was dark. Gillian was crouched down in front of their small light blue tent; she had a small cast iron skillet and was cooking something for dinner.  The camp site Mac had chosen was nice. They were in a small group of trees, there was a shower and a bathroom just down the hill from them. She had taken off her blue spandex pants and her boots; she was in her short jean shorts and her bare feet.

"What is that heavenly smell?" She looked up and saw her husband standing over her with an armload of wood for their fire. 

"Dinner."

MacGyver set the pile of wood down, he looked at the skillet she was waving back and forth over the fire. "What is it?"

"Beef with mixed vegetables and mushrooms."

"Where did you get that from?"

Gillian motioned with her head to a purple backpack that was sitting beside her. Mac walked around her and picked it up; there were a few canned goods in it, some paper plates, a bag of silverware and some zip lock bags of food. He picked up a sealed bag of beef jerky. "Nice, we have food, and here I thought we were going to have to eat nuts and berries." He opened the bag and started eating a piece.

"Hey don't you munch on beef jerky and spoil your dinner."

"Trust me Gill, one little piece of dried beef is _not going to spoil my appetite, I'm starving."_

She took off her oven mitt. "Well can you get a couple of plates out, it's done."

"Sure." Mac crouched down and took out the paper plates. He handed one to her and she scooped some of the mixture out onto the plate. "There you go." He set it aside and she scooped some of it out for the other plate, she set the skillet down on the ground and moved away from the fire. 

"Okay, you are my guinea pig, go ahead and try it." She sat down on the ground on top of the pine needle covering and crossed her legs under her Indian style.

Mac raised an eyebrow at his wife as he sat down. "Your guinea pig?"

"Yeah, go on and try it."

MacGyver sighed and picked up two forks, he handed on to his wife. "Okay, but if I die I'm coming back to haunt you." He stuck his fork in the mixture and took a bite, he nodded. "It's good, a lot better than nuts and berries would have been."

Gillian picked up the other plate and started eating it. "Not bad for everything being from a can."

"You cook good over an open fire Gill." Mac added another log for the fire; he picked up the spoon and scooped more of the beef and veggies onto his plate.

Mac was in his black pajama bottoms and a blue t-shirt; he had taken a shower and was stretched out inside the tent. He had taken two sleeping bags and had spread one out on the ground; the other was folded in half at his feet. There was a lantern behind him, providing the only light other than the orange glow of the fire outside. He was reading a book about psychic ability that he had gotten from Paul Matney, it was pretty interesting stuff. 

The tent flap was pulled up and Gillian crawled into the tent. She had gone to take a shower and had a flashlight on her hand. She had on a pair of black cotton shorts and a white t-shirt. She could see her husband was totally engrossed in his book.

"What are you reading?"

"The book Paul gave me."

"Oh, is it good? I haven't read it."

MacGyver put the book down on his chest. "I don't think you need to read it, you probably know everything that's in this book."

Gillian nodded. "Maybe but I'll look at it anyways."

Mac went back to reading it and she stretched out beside him. She put her head down on his shoulder; she reached out and traced her finger down his t-shirt. "Are you going to spend the rest of the night reading that book?"

"Thought about it."

Gillian grabbed the book and took it from his hands, Mac reached for it. "Gill I was reading that."

She set it down on the ground and put her hands on his shoulders and rolled him towards her.  She started kissing him deeply, wrapping her arms around his neck. She saw the look on his face when the kiss was over.

"But I thought that."

Gillian shook her head and kissed him again, moving her hands down his chest slowly. "Here we are, alone in the woods, no one around for miles." She slipped her hands under his t-shirt; she put her arms around his waist. 

MacGyver could feel her hands tickling his back; he looked at his wife sideways as he put his hands on her shoulders. "Are you trying to seduce me?"

Gillian grinned. "Thought about it, but if you really want to read I could leave you alone."

He looked at her. "You're kidding right? My options are reading a book or being seduced by my wife, tough decision there."

"The book doesn't stand a chance huh?"

"It doesn't have a prayer."

She nodded. "Okay so I take it that you are giving me permission to seduce you."

Mac let go of her shoulders and laid back on the sleeping bag, he closed his eyes. "Do what you will, I'm yours."

Gillian shook her head; her face broke out in a big smile. "Oh it's going to be a very good night." She reached out and picked up the lantern. She lifted the glass and blew out the wick, bathing the little tent in darkness.


End file.
